Nation
THE STATES
Adamawa
No fewer than 102, 560 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
were registered by the Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency (ADSEMA) between January and March this year, its Executive Secretary, Malam Haruna Hamman, has said.
Hamman said last Thursday in Yola that most of those registered were victims of various insurgents attacks and other conflicts within and outside the state.
The scribe explained that the displaced persons were spread across the 21 local government areas of the state with Madagali local government, which is on the border with Borno, leading with 31,666 IDPs.
He commended the state and local governments for their support to those displaced by the conflicts, and called for more assistance to them and the communities hosting them.
Benue
Assistant Parish Priest, Saint Theresa’s Catholic Parish,
Makurdi, Reverend Fr. Isaac Shityo, yesterday advised Nigerians to seek God’s intervention for the rescue of the Chibok girls.
Shityo, who said this at a sermon yesterday in Makurdi, lamented over the situation where people were insulting and criticising security agents following the delay in rescuing the abducted girls.
“Boko Haram is not the only body committing crime in our society today. Here in Makurdi, we see and hear all kinds of crime perpetrated by our children. Are they too insurgents? “As Christians, we need to go to any length to bring up our children in the best ways possible,” he said.
Shityo said that God and the country’s forefathers who paid supreme prices for the unity of Nigeria would not forgive the present generation if they destroyed the legacy left.
Borno
The Borno State Government yesterday donated N10
million to victims of last week’s suspected Boko Haram attack in Limankara village in Gwoza Local Government Area of the state.
Governor Kashim Shettima, represented by the Commissioner for Commerce and Investment, Dr Asabe Vilita, said he was deeply touched by the incident.
Receiving the donation, the District Head of the community, Mr Baba Lawan, thanked the government for the gesture, and pledged to be fair in the distribution of the money.
Lawan said that about 80 per cent of the houses in the community were burnt by the insurgents in addition to some places of worship.
Jigawa
The Jigawa State Government says it has approved the
release of N718.8 million to the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and the newly established State University in Kafin-Hausa.
The State Commissioner for Information, Youths and Sports, Alhaji Babandi Ibrahim, explained that N604.3 million was approved as a counterpart fund for SUBEB.
According to him, the Federal Government will also contribute to the fund to execute projects in primary and junior secondary schools across the state.
He said N114.5 million was approved for the newly established State University, Kafin-Hausa.
The commissioner said the fund was approved during the State Executive Council meeting held last Wednesday.
Ibrahim said the government was committed to providing quality education in the state.
Kaduna
Governor Mukhtar Yero of Kaduna State last Thursday
directed the Ministries of Works, Land and Education to intervene in resolving the recent crisis in Kachia following a trespass on a Muslims’ prayer ground.
Yero gave the directive during a visit to the town after the crisis which led to loss of lives and property on Sunday.
The crisis erupted when part of the fence surrounding the Muslim prayer ground was allegedly pulled down by a Christian group, claiming that the fence had blocked access to their community.
Yero, in a statement signed by his Media aide, Alhaji Ahmed Maiyaki, directed the ministries to work together in resolving the issue.
The governor also called on people in the area to educate and prevent their children from engaging in violent acts and other social vices.
Katsina
A Sociology lecturer at the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua
University, Katsina, Dr Kwaghmande Joseph, has said that Nigeria must tackle corruption in order to improve its image in the international community.
Joseph said this yesterday in a paper entitled: “The Challenges of Corruption on Ethical Practices and Values of Nigeria in the 21st Century.”
He presented the paper at an interactive summit on anti-corruption, ethics and values organised by the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Ethics and Values in collaboration with an NGO, Global Network, Monitoring and Development Initiative.
Earlier, the Executive Director of the NGO, Mr Muhammad Haruna, said the summit was organised for local government chairmen, vice chairmen and secretaries of councils in the state.
The Chairman of Faskari Local Government Council, Alhaji Isyaku Ahmad, averred that local councils should not be viewed as the most corrupt institution in the country.
Kebbi
The Kebbi State Government says it will spend N4
billion on the provision and improvement of infrastructure and social amenities, including water, electricity and roads in different parts of the state.
The Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Sani Kanya, who disclosed this to journalists in Birnin Kebbi on Thursday, said that out of the amount, about N1.2 billion would be spent on digitisation of equipment at the state-owned radio and television stations.
Kanya said a committee had been set up to ensure the installation of the digital equipment in the two stations by January 2015.
The commissioner said that the installation of the digital equipment was in line with the 2008 Geneva global rules for the replacement of analogue equipment in media organisations.
Kwara
Kwara State Government said it would spend N7.2 billion
on the Ilorin metropolis water reticulation project.
Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Investment, Promotion and Strategy, Mr Yomi Ogunsola, said this at a news conference in Ilorin.
Ogunsola said the state government had spent more than N5.2 billion on the project, bringing it to about 98 per cent completion stage.
He said N2 billion would be used from the proposed N23 billion bond to complete the water project.
Ogunsola said the bond would also be spent on the renovation of 120 schools and the indoor Sports Hall of the State Stadium Complex in Ilorin.
Lagos
The members of the Nigerian Association of Women
Journalists (NAWOJ) have elected, Mrs Ifeyinwa Omowole of the News Agency of Nigeria as its new president.
Omowole, polled 469 votes to defeat her opponent, Mrs Fatima Abdulkareem, who scored 198 votes in the 2014 NAWOJ elections in Badagry, Lagos.
In her acceptance speech yesterday, Omowole pledged to give NAWOJ a responsive leadership that would encourage capacity building of its members to enhance their profession.
She assured that her tenure would wear a human face, adding that the new executive would initiate a website for the association for global interactions.
Earlier, Malam Mohammad Garba, National President, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), advised the new officers to embark on capacity building of their colleagues to be able to match the times.
Osun
Authorities of Osun State Polytechnic, (OSPOLY), Iree,
have directed the staff of the institution to resume administrative and academic activities today, Monday.
The Registrar, Mr Busari Salawu, who gave the directive last Thursday in Osogbo, said, “all members of staff are enjoined to resume at their respective duty posts on Monday, May 19.
“Students who are on mid-semester break are to resume for academic duties on the afore-mentioned date,” the statement added. It will be recalled that members of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) have been on strike in the last 10 months.
The union is demanding increased welfare packages as well as improved funding of polytechnic education in the country.
Zamfara
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC),
said it had arrested a Principal, Mr Mahmud Gaya, for alleged illegal registration of 99 ‘students’ for WAEC, NECO and JSCE examinations.
The Public Relations Officer of Gusau Command of NSCDC, Mr Aminu Ismail, said on Thursday that Gaya is the principal of Alheri Group of Schools, Gusau, and that the matter was reported to the command by the school’s proprietress, Mrs Chioma Ugorji.
Ismail said Gaya registered 27 and 36 candidates for WAEC and NECO examinations respectively, while each of the students paid N16, 650.
When questioned, the principal admitted doing so, saying it was a mistake.
He said he assumed the position of school principal since December 2008 and had never been found wanting. “I am married and have three children.”
The NSCDC said the suspect would soon appear in court.

L-R: NUJ National President, Mr Garba Mohammed, National Publicity Secretary, APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Representative of President of Nigeria, Alhaji Garba Kakarfi and former NAWOJ National President, Mrs Asabe Baba-nahaja, at the opening of NAWOJ national delegates conference in Badagry, Lagos, last Saturday.
Nation
Accolades, Fanfare As Ogbakor Ikwerre President General Celebrates 80th Birthday

The President General of Ogbakor Ikwerre Cultural Organisation Worldwide and the Mgboh XIII of the Mgboh Royal Family of Emohua Kingdom in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State, Eze (Barrister) Godspower Onuekwa, penultimate Friday celebrated his 80th birthday with pomp, pageantry and fanfare.
The celebration, which commenced with a symposium organised in his honour at Rivers State University on Thursday, August 21,2025, got to a resounding climax on Friday at Suntai Event Centre in Port Harcourt, where people from all walks of life, including business associates, friends, well-wishers, relatives, community folks, traditional rulers, and admirers, gathered to pay glowing tributes to the celebrant.
Before then, a well attended thanksgiving service was held that same Friday at Emmanuel Anglican Church, Okoro-Nu-Odo, to honour him and return gratitude to God Almighty for the fruitful and eventful life and accomplishments of the Emohua leader and icon.
The service which was officiated by Rt Rev Wisdom Budu Ihunwo, Bishop of Niger Delta North had other renowned and respected clerics like Most Rev(Dr) Blessing Enyindah, Dean, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion); Rt Rev(Dr) Emmanuel Oko-Jaja, Bishop, Diocese of Niger Delta; Rt Rev Innocent Ordu, Bishop, Diocese of Evo; and Ven Solomon Eze Nelson, Archdeacon, Okoro-Nu-Odo; among others lined up as officiating ministers.
The service lived up to its billing, as it featured powerful and soul-lifting praise and worship; point-blank prayers; and beautiful renditions, which electrified the entire atmosphere, essentially packaged to thank God for the life of the celebrant.
However, the crowning moment actually came when the who is who, the crème de la crème of the society, thronged the terraces and fabulously decorated expansive hall of Suntai Event Centre, to celebrate Eze Onuekwa, amid accolades, aplomb and panache, wining and dining, and clinking of glasses with him and all.
The chairman of the colourful ceremony, Chief Evans Woherem, who was represented by Eze(Prof) Christian Akani of the prestigious Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, praised the celebrant for his youthfulness in spite of clocking 80 years, generosity, humility, humaneness and selfless services to the Ikwerre ethnic nationality, the Niger Delta and Nigeria, and called on all and sundry to emulate his good legacies and simple disposition towards life and existence.
Goodwill messages also poured in in torrents to underscore and salute the doggedness, resilience, astuteness and uniqueness of the endearing life of the celebrant, with Prof Emenike Wami, the Ochia Ohna Ikwerre(XIV), taking the lead.
Prof Priye Iyalla, the wife of late renowned writer, novelist and playwright, Dr Elechi Amadi, held the audience spellbound as she masterfully reeled out the profile of the celebrant, amid intermittent applause from the crowd.
The Tiv Community from Benue State, resident in Rivers State, were not left out, as they honoured and decorated Eze Onuekwa in their complete traditional regalia.
Cultural displays from Baptist Church, Rumuowhor; ADNA Wogbuji Dancing Group, Egbeda; Tiv Dancing Group; and Promoter Eze and Rumu-Mgboh Emohua Wrestling Group, equally added colour and grace to the occasion, with the celebrant and his wife, Dame Ann Onuekwa, joining them to wriggle their waists and bodies in ecstasy.
In his response, the highly elated celebrant, Eze Onuekwa thanked all those gathered to celebrate with him, saying, celebrations would never cease in their homes, and attributed everything he represents in life, including his modest accomplishments to God.
Eze Onuekwa, while addressing newsmen, harped on the need for hard work among the youths and members of Ogbakor Ikwerre Cultural Organisation Worldwide, as a way of sustaining and giving meaning to the motto of the organisation, which he noted is anchored on peace, unity and progress.
He specially thanked God for sustaining his life, and for making everything possible for him and his family, saying, he was joyous that he has today become an octogenarian and elder statesman in Rivers State.
His son and medical practitioner, Dr Samuel Chizia Onuekwa expressed delight that people from far and near had come together to celebrate the father, whom he described as a role model and great inspirator.
He said it was a good thing that the children were celebrating their father when he is alive, stressing that the last time Eze Onuekwa was celebrated in such magnitude was 20 years ago, during his 60th birthday celebration, and prayed God to grant him many more years in good health.
Among dignitaries who graced the event were Senator Andrew Uchendu; Chief Sampson Agbaru; Prof Emenike Wami; Dr Peter Didia; Eze(Prof) Samuel Ugo Onyeka; and a host of others. Justice Iche Ndu(rtd); and C O Kattey were among personalities that attended the thanksgiving service, while the Vice Chancellor of Rivers State University, Prof Isaac Zeb-Obipi led the academics who graced the symposium, alongside Eze G A O Omodu.
Nation
Ensure That Ogoni Is Heard In The Right Way, HYPREP Urges Creative Arts Trainees

As the 100 Ogoni youths trained by the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) in Creative Arts close out their training on Tuesday at the Theatre Arts Department, University of Port Harcourt, the Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Prof Nenibarini Zabbey, has urged the beneficiaries to use the skills acquired to ensure that the Ogoni stories are told and heard in the right way.
The trainees, who had completed a four- month training in script writing, film production and make-up are beneficiaries of the HYPREP sustainable livelihood programme, aimed at providing high demand skills to Ogoni youths in the lucrative creative arts and entertainment industry.
Zabbey described the Creative Arts training as well as other programmes and interventions as HYPREP’s strategic sustained effort to create alternative sources of livelihood.
”Targeted capacity building for Ogoni youths and women remains a central strategy in HYPREP’s livelihood restoration and improvement efforts. Our goal is to reach every part of the Ogoni community and ensure that no group or talent pool is left behind. This training is a deliberate step to empower young people who aspire to make their mark in the creative and entertainment industry”, he said.
While commending the trainees for producing four short films within the training period, one of which was premiered at the ceremony-Dirty Festival, the Project Coordinator noted that the training would serve as a springboard into the industry, and enable them earn a living, become entrepreneurs, and open new doors of opportunities for themselves and their communities. The three other movies are Open Pain, Bomu and Green War.
He enjoined them to utilise their skills and platforms to promote civic responsibility, peace, and environmental sustainability, urging them to ensure that Ogoni is heard in the right way, speak for HYPREP and highlight the progress being made in implementing the recommendations of the UNEP Report.
Other speakers at the event, including the Director of Technical Services of HYPREP, Prof. Damian-Paul Aguiyi; Dr Ovunda Ihunwo, Head of the Theatre Arts Department of the University of Port Harcourt; Chief Douglas Experience, the Project Coordinator of Halibiz Consult Limited; and Mrs Josephine Nzidee, Head, Sustainable Livelihood of HYPREP, all applauded HYPREP for the training, and charged the trainees to maximise the opportunity.
The trainees were later presented certificates of participation.
Visibly elated Ms Lebee Tornwe, one of the beneficiaries, thanked HYPREP and the Project Coordinator for offering the trainees the rare opportunity to acquire skills in the creative arts and entertainment industry, and expressed delight that Dr Ihunwo and Halibiz Consult Limited gave their all in grooming them.
With the wrapping up of the Creative Arts training(100), HYPREP has trained 230 Ogoni youths in high demand skill sets ,viz; seafaring(100); and aviation (30). The Project will this year, commence training in other skill areas, including Mechatronic, Aviation, Full-Stack Development, Commercial Diving, Underwater Welding and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Still in the offing is the training for Ogoni Persons Living with Disabilities in five skill sets- fish farming; basic computer skills; photography; fashion and design; and shoemaking in line with their Needs Assessment and HYPREP’s policy of inclusivity.
Nation
NYCOP Urges Stakeholders To Develop, Empower Ogoni Youths

The National Youth Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP) had called on stakeholders to work collaboratively towards the development and empowerment of Ogoni youths.
NYCOP made the call in a communique issue over the weekend after an emergency Congress in Port Harcourt and signed by its President, Comrade Raymond Nwibani Marcus.
In the communique, NYCOP endorsed President Bola Tinubu’s appointments of the Governing Council and Board of Trustees (BOT) members of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), particularly Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Nwika Deeyah as Chairman of HYPREP’s BOT.
It respectfully appealed to the President to consider appointing a representative from the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) under the leadership of Engr. Olu Andah Wai-Ogosu, being the pioneering social vehicle for Ogoni advocacy since the inception of the Ogoni struggle, adding that it would significantly contribute to the decision-making process.
The body commended the overall management of HYPREP and urges the President to continue funding the HYPREP project.
NYCOP furthermore recommended considering the conversion of HYPREP from a project to a full-fledged agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The communique also stated that NYCOP thanked President Tinubu for establishing the Federal University of Environmental Technology, and for appointing key staff, forming a dialogue committee, and initiating infrastructural projects like the Eleme axis of the East-West Road and the Bonny-Bodo Road, significantly enhancing regional connectivity and economic prospects.
In solidarity with the Renewed Hope Agenda, the endorsed President Tinubu’s second-term bid, saying it believes his leadership embodies the aspirations of the Ogoni people and Nigerians at large.
“After thorough consideration of the Disciplinary Committee’s report, NYCOP resolves:
” To indefinitely suspend Comrade Nade Nade Burale from his position as Secretary General due to misconduct.
“To declare Comrade Saviour Imeabe persona non grata on Ogoni youth issues, given his actions’ potential to instigate crisis in Ogoni and beyond” the communique stated.
NYCOP in his resolution issued a 7-day ultimatum to former HYPREP BOT Chairman Mike Nwialeghi to explain the $100 million HYPREP fund investment, warning of potential litigation.
NYCOP reaffirmed its commitment to safeguarding Ogoni youth interests and preventing personal aggrandizement.
According to the communique the resolutions demonstrate NYCOP’s efforts to promote the collective welfare and advancement of Ogoni youth.
“We will no longer tolerate any individual or group using the name or issues of Ogoni youth for personal aggrandizement.
” Our mandate is clear: to promote the collective welfare and advancement of Ogoni youth” the communique said.
NYCOP passes a vote of confidence in Hon. Emmanuel Nwika Deeyah, acknowledging his impeccable credentials and credibility to lead the BOT of HYPREP effectively.
Kiadum Edookor
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